Daejeon Municipal Building

Daejon, South Korea

Perkins Eastman collaborated with Heerim Architects on the competition-winning design of the 40,330 sm (434,000 sf) Daejon Municipal Building. The City envisioned an iconic and functional municipal complex that would instill civic pride, foster public interaction, and house the various public program components.

The design emphasizes transparency while balancing a modern aesthetic with sensitivity to the immediate urban context. The translucency of the complex is a physical representation of the citizen-friendly administration, welcoming the public to observe the inner workings of the building. The design concept articulates all program components as distinct building elements and organizes them around multi-level public plazas. The concept divides the program components into basic units: the Statistics Center tower; a podium housing large meeting spaces and major lobbies; shared program components; a dormitory; and the Veterans Affairs/ Election Commission building.

The tower’s form serves as both a strong vertical component and an anchor for the entire complex. The folded glass planes of its south façade offer transparency into the building and the constantly shifting reflections of the urban context.